Fairfield chiropractor ordered to pay $70K for fraud

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A Fairfield chiropractor was ordered to pay nearly $70,000 in restitution and investigation costs to the Ohio Bureau of Workers' Compensation (BWC), according state officials.

Tariq Arif pleaded guilty Jan. 13 in the Franklin County Court of Common Pleas to one count of workers' compensation fraud, a first-degree misdemeanor, as part of a plea agreement.

He was sentenced to 180 days in jail, which was suspended for five years of community control. He was also ordered to pay $10,169.96 in restitution and $59,186.20 in investigative costs – a total of $69,356.16 – as a term of his community control.

"Mr. Arif created bogus treatment records to support the fraudulent workers' compensation bills he submitted for payment," said Steve Buehrer, of the BWC. "The faces of fraud vary, and our agents aggressively root out and prosecute injured worker, employer and provider fraud."

BWC's began investigating Arif after a tip that he allegedly billed for treatment he didn't perform on injured workers. The investigation included an undercover operation in which a BWC agents posed as injured workers and sought treatment at the Back and Pain Rehab Center, a chiropractic and rehabilitation clinic owned and operated by Arif in Fairfield.